On 4/22/11 4:58 PM, Martin Hepp wrote:
> On the more theoretical side, I do not thing that English identifiers are necessarily a barrier to global adoption. HTML is based in English identifiers, most XML schemas are based on English identifiers, the HTTP protocol uses English tokens, etc.;-)
Yes, but in the HTML context, the user isn't really thinking in terms of
Object ID and Object Representation Address dichotomy. They just have a
Link acting as a Pointer :-)
Trouble with Linked Data is that its Distributed Data Objects 3.0, so
conceptually, de-reference (*) and address-of (&) operators knowledge
and history matters. The whole 303 imbroglio completely masked out this
important innovation that showcases the ingenuity of URIs.
Sometimes, trying to dumb down the message for an audience just adds
more inertia to concept comprehension and exploitation. Ignorance !=
Bliss, over the long haul :-)
The conundrum I see is this: Identifiers are supposed to be opaque and
unique. When it comes to Address (Pointer) function variants such URLs,
that's another matter, hackable URLs are immensely valuable. Trouble is
this though, Linked Data is (mechanically) about indirection (aka.
de-reference operator) but this indirection creates an problematic
fusion: Name Reference (HTTP URI based Name of a Thing) and Name of Data
Access Address (HTTP URI based Name of an Data Access Address aka URL) .
Solving this problem is achievable via the Web Linking pattern using URL
templates and .well-known/host-meta. Trouble is, folks are already
implementing other patterns that don't really unveil the critical
dichotomy I mentioned earlier.
As I said, it is a conundrum, so we have to watch and see how this all
shakes out. Thus, in your case GR instances will grow (outside of what
folks like us do with Linked Data transformation middleware) as desired
(by Web developers) or hit an incomprehension laden point of inertia,
only time will tell.
--
Regards,
Kingsley Idehen
President& CEO
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen